Candidates Tournament Moscow 2016

Karjakin and Caruana at the press conference after the last round

The Moscow 2016 Candidates Tournament took place in Moscow from March 10th to 28th, 2016 . In this candidate tournament of the world chess federation FIDE , the challenger of world champion Magnus Carlsen at the world chess championship 2016 was determined from eight top chess players who had qualified in different ways. The winner was Sergei Karjakin .

Attendees

The following eight participants qualified:

player	Qualification path	Elo rating (as of March 2016)
Viswanathan Anand	1) the loser of the 2014 World Chess Championship	2762
Sergei Karjakin	2) the two best placed winners of the Chess World Cup 2015 who were not already qualified after 1)	2760
Pyotr Swidler		2757
Fabiano Caruana *	3) the top two of the FIDE Grand Prix 2014–2015 who were not already qualified after 1) or 2)	2794
Hikaru Nakamura		2790
Wesselin Topalow	4) those two players who averaged the best Elo number in 2015 and were not already qualified according to 1), 2) or 3); they must have participated in the 2015 World Cup or the 2014–2015 Grand Prix.	2780
Anish Giri		2793
Levon Aronjan	5) Player nominated by the organizer with a rating of 2725 or better	2786

* Caruana, who has two nationalities, played in the Grand Prix for Italy, but moved to the US Chess Federation in September 2015.

mode

Werner Stubenvoll

The players competed in a double round-robin tournament that was held in the Central Telegraph Office of Moscow. The main referee was Werner Stubenvoll from Austria .

Starting on March 11, 2016, one round took place every day. A rest day followed after three match days. The games began at 3 p.m. Moscow time (1 p.m. CET ). The order of pairings was determined before the tournament, with the stipulation that participants from the same national associations (in this case the USA and Russia) should meet each other as early as possible. The total prize money was at least 420,000 euros . For the placement in the final ranking was decisive (in the event of a tie, the following criterion in each case):

1. the number of points scored,
2. the direct comparison of the tied players,
3. the number of games won,
4. the fine evaluation according to Sonneborn-Berger,
5. Play-off fight with quick games.

The latter two criteria were not needed.

The thinking time was 100 minutes for the first 40 moves, 50 minutes for the next 20 moves and 15 minutes for the rest of the game, plus an additional 30 seconds for each move played.

Bottom line

0space	player	SK	FC	VA	PS	LA	AG	HN	WT	Points	to you. Compare	Profits	power
1	Sergei Karjakin	-	½ 1	1 0	½ ½	½ ½	½ ½	1 ½	½ 1	8½			2855
2	Fabiano Caruana	½ 0	-	½ 1	½ ½	½ ½	½ ½	½ 1	½ ½	7½	1½		2800
3	Viswanathan Anand	0 1	½ 0	-	1 ½	½ 1	½ ½	½ 0	1 ½	7½	½		2804
4th	Pyotr Swidler	½ ½	½ ½	0 ½	-	½ 1	½ ½	½ ½	½ ½	7th	3½		2776
5	Levon Aronjan	½ ½	½ ½	½ 0	½ 0	-	½ ½	1 ½	1 ½	7th	3	2	2780
6th	Anish Giri	½ ½	½ ½	½ ½	½ ½	½ ½	-	½ ½	½ ½	7th	3	0	2777
7th	Hikaru Nakamura	0 ½	½ 0	½ 1	½ ½	0 ½	½ ½	-	1 1	7th	2½		2776
8th	Wesselin Topalow	½ 0	½ ½	0 ½	½ ½	0 ½	½ ½	0 0	-	4½			2648

Of the total of 56 games, 40 ended in a draw, White won thirteen times and Black won three times.

course

After Anand was the only one to win his first round game and thus initially took the lead, he had to admit defeat in the fourth round to Karjakin, who now took first place in the table with two wins and two draws. In the sixth round, Aronjan drew level because his opponent made a serious mistake that was extremely rare among master players: Nakamura touched his king in the rook endgame with the intention of moving him, and only then did he discover that the position required a rook move. At first he argued that he only wanted to adjust the piece , but then had to move the king because of the rule " touched - guided ", which ultimately led to the loss of the game. Overall, the tournament turned out to be unpleasant for the American: In Round 2 he had already lost to Karjakin because he had lost a runner through a mismatch . In round 8 he finally got the short straw in a tough game against Caruana because his attack turned out to be less powerful than that of the opponent. At first he could only win against the even more luckless Topalow. When the two clashed on Round 7, Topalov sacrificed a figure for an attack that ended up unsuccessful, allowing Nakamura to claim his first win. Topalow was therefore at halftime with three defeats and no win in the last place in the table.

Karjakin - Caruana
14th round
position after 36 ... Re5 – e4?

	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H
8th									8th
7th									7th
6th									6th
5									5
4th									4th
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H

Karjakin drew 37.Rxd5 !! and won the game after 37 ... exd5 38. Qxd5 Qc7 39. Qf5 Rf7 40. Bxf7 Qe5 41. Rd7 + Kf8 42. Rd8 + 1: 0. Matt can no longer be prevented. (e.g. through 42 ... Kxf7 43. Qh7 + Ke6 44. Qd7 #)

In the further course of the tournament, Anand recovered from his defeat in the fourth round, beat Swidler in round 6 in only 24 moves and also remained victorious against the best-placed Aronjan so that after nine rounds he again took the lead together with Karjakin with the same points. In the following laps the lead changed frequently and until the last lap none of the opponents was able to break away decisively. In round 13 at least Caruana had the chance to do so when he reached an advantageous final against Swidler. When trying to force a mate with rook and bishop against rook , however, he failed because of the 50- move rule and had to be satisfied with a draw after a total of 116 moves. Caruana and Karjakin shared first place in the table with 7½ points each from 13 games, but all participants (except Topalow) were at most one point worse. The two leaders met on the last lap. Both were able to win the tournament on their own by winning. After Anand only achieved a draw in his game against Swidler, it was clear that a draw would not be enough for Caruana. From the opening he achieved a position that gave him good chances of victory in the long term thanks to the possession of the bishop pair and the better pawn structure . Before this came to fruition, however, Karjakin first found a pawn and then a rook sacrifice (see game extract), through which he could exploit the weakness of the opposing king and win the game. As a result, Karjakin won the 2016 candidates' tournament with 8½ points, one point ahead of Caruana and Anand, who were tied on points. Swidler, Aronjan, Giri and Nakamura formed the midfield, all with 7 out of 14, in front of the beaten Topalow. Giri was the only one to remain undefeated. But since he, like Topalow, could not win a game, he only found himself in 6th place.

Karjakin won the right to challenge world champion Magnus Carlsen in November 2016. In his analysis of the last game, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave wrote that Karjakin deserved to win the tournament because - considering what was at stake - he had the best of nerves and defended some difficult positions most tenaciously. For the 26-year-old Karjakin, who was supported by Juri Dochojan , Vladimir Potkin , Alexander Motyljow and Şəhriyar Məmmədyarov , winning the Candidates Tournament represents the high point of his professional career so far.

Live broadcast controversy

The marketing company Agon Limited , a business partner of the world chess association FIDE, claimed the sole right to broadcast the games live on the Internet. To this end, she set up her own website, Worldchess.com. This prohibition, which was justified on the grounds that "it is best for chess" to "control the transmission", "is aimed at everyone who can transmit or forward the games". Agon reported that their official site was attacked by strangers with DDoS attacks at the beginning of the first round and was only able to start broadcasting after over an hour. Various chess sites around the world did not adhere to the ban and broadcast the moves of the games live. Agon then took legal action and, according to its own information, sent reminders to those responsible for the sites.

At the beginning of November 2016, the chess site Chess24 announced that on November 1, 2016, the Moscow Commercial Court had dismissed Agon's lawsuit against chess sites that broadcast the moves live during the candidates' tournament. In its reasoning, the court said: "Information about chess moves is not a trade secret and is not protected by law." Agon suffered no damage in the form of lost profits. Agon has 30 days to appeal the judgment.

Web links

• Official website
• Games on chessgames.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Alejandro Ramirez: Caruana switching back to USA Chessbase. May 12, 2015, accessed June 1, 2015 . 
2. ↑ Candidates Tournament 2016 pairings. February 11, 2016, accessed March 14, 2016 . 
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Regulations for the Candidates Tournament by FIDE , accessed on March 31, 2016
4. ↑ worldchess.com: Worldchess.com final result table. worldchess.com, March 28, 2016, accessed March 29, 2016 . 
5. ↑ Quoting taken from "Karjakin Wins Candidates' Tournament, Qualifies For World Title Match" by Peter Doggers, published on chess.com, March 28, 2016.
6. ^ Dylan Loeb McClain: And Now for a Word From Our Sponsor. World Chess, March 6, 2016, accessed March 13, 2016 . 
7. ↑ Official Statement on Agon DDOS Attack and Legal Action. World Chess, March 12, 2016, accessed March 13, 2016 . 
8. ^ Agon Ltd commences legal action against Chess24, InternetChessClub, Chessgames and Chessbomb for breaching broadcast restrictions. World Chess, March 12, 2016, accessed March 13, 2016 .  
9. ↑ Colin McGourty: chess24 win Moscow case, announce New York line-up. November 3, 2016, accessed November 4, 2016 .